Grapes of Wrath Ch. 19-30 – Flashcards
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
According to the narrator, who used to own California?
answer
Mexico
question
Why did American squatters claim ownership of California?
answer
They believed that they owned the land because they farmed it.
question
How do the wealthy Californian landowners defend their land and their wealth?
answer
They defend their land with security guards and protect their wealth by paying their laborers extremely low wages.
question
Why do wealthy Californian landowners resent the "Okies"?
answer
They know that hungry and impoverished people are a danger to the stability of land ownership.
question
What do the Okies want out of living in California?
answer
They want a decent wage and freedom from the threat of starvation.
question
Where do the Okies live in California?
answer
Workers' camps, called Hoovervilles
question
What happens when one of the Okies tries to grow his own garden?
answer
A cop kicks him off of the land and destroys the garden.
question
Why did the Californian landowners lose their love for the land?
answer
They lost their feelings of desperation (because they were growing wealthy), which made them lose their ties to the land.
question
How did the Californian farms change over time?
answer
The farms became businesses, run by business-minded farmers who were concerned with making a profit. The farmers continued to become shrewd businessmen, hiring bookkeepers and teams of employees to manage the land. Some farmers never even saw the land they owned.
question
Who did the Californian landowners hire to work the land? How were the workers treated?
answer
Foreign workers (more specifically, "Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, Filipinos"). The landowners paid them very little and treated them badly.
question
Why did the Californian landowners pay their workers less and less?
answer
When the Dust Bowl occurred, families from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, and Arkansas flooded into California looking for work on the farms. These families were hungry and were willing to work for any pay. There is a surplus of workers.
question
Why do the California landowners, other workers, and merchants hate the migrant farmers?
answer
The other workers hate them because they drive the price of labor down, the farmers hate them because they are afraid they will steal their land, and the merchants hate them because they don't have any money to spend.
question
Why does the Department of Health burn down some Hoovervilles?
answer
The camps have become health risks. Typhoid has erupted.
question
What are the "three facts of history" that make the landowners afraid of the migrant farmers?
answer
1. "When property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away." 2. "When a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need." 3. "Repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed."
question
Describe the situation in which the boy dies from malnutrition.
answer
The men of the migrant families gather on a porch one night. They have heard that a little boy has died from not having enough nutrients in his body. His family can't afford a burial. The men take coins out of their pockets and make a pile of silver for the little boy's burial.
question
Where do Ma and Pa Joad leave Granma's body? Why?
answer
They leave her body in a coroner's office because they cannot afford a proper burial.
question
What is Floyd Knowles' advice to Tom regarding the police?
answer
Floyd tells Tom that when he encounters police, he must act "bull-simple": he must speak ramblingly and incoherently in order to convince the policeman that he is an unthreatening idiot.
question
According to Floyd, why don't the workers organize against the landowners?
answer
He says that anyone who discusses such possibilities will be labeled "red" and dragged off by the police. Men who attempt to organize are put on a "blacklist," which ensures that they will never find work.
question
Why does Connie tell Rose of Sharon that they should have stayed in Oklahoma?
answer
There are no jobs in California, and Connie says that he could have learned about tractors in Oklahoma.
question
What happens when Ma makes the stew?
answer
The stew attracts a bevy of hungry children. After feeding her family, she hands over the meager leftovers, which the children devour ravenously.
question
Where does the contractor want to bring workers?
answer
Tulare County
question
Why does Knowles get threatened with arrest? What happens?
answer
When Knowles demands a contract and a set wage for the fruit pickers from the contractor from Tulare County, the man summons a police deputy, who arrests Knowles on a bogus charge and then begins threatening the others. Knowles then runs off, and the deputy shoots at him recklessly, piercing a woman through the hand.
question
Why does Jim Casy get arrested?
answer
Tom trips the deputy who is shooting at Knowles, and Casy knocks the deputy unconscious. Casy takes the blame for the whole thing, and is arrested. He wants to protect Tom, who is still on parole.
question
Why is Uncle John so upset by Casy's arrest? What does he decide to do?
answer
Uncle John is distraught by Casy's sacrifice. Uncle John had spoken with Casy about the nature of sin, and now that the former preacher is gone, John's wife's tragic death lies heavy upon him. He goes to get drunk.
question
Where does Connie go? Why?
answer
Connie abandons the family; Al says that he saw Connie walking south along the river. He leaves because he feels pressured by Rose of Sharon to succeed, as Rose of Sharon does not want to give birth to her baby while living in a tent.
question
Why can't the Joads enter the next town (in Chapter 20)?
answer
The family is turned away by a crowd of pick-handle and shotgun wielding men, who have stationed themselves by the road to keep Okies out.
question
Where is Floyd Knowles moving his family? Why?
answer
He is moving them up north in search of work.
question
According to Floyd Knowles, what will happen to Tom if he beats up a police officer?
answer
Floyd tells him that if he tried to beat a law enforcer up, he would eventually end up dead in a ditch. Only a one-line obituary would appear in the local paper, and it would read, "'vagrant found dead'".
question
What does the little girl tell Ma while she's making stew?
answer
She tells Ma that she and her family have been here for six months now, and that her dad is out getting gas so that they can move on to find work. She says that she and her family used to live in a government camp. They moved north and, when they came back, the camp was full. She says government camps are like paradise.
question
True or False: According to Floyd Knowles, there is work in the area.
answer
False
question
Why does a woman berate Ma for serving stew to her children?
answer
She tells Ma that she's working hard to make ends meet, and she doesn't need some benevolent woman to make her kids realize that their families are too poor to serve them stew.
question
What secret does Floyd tell Al and Tom? What is Tom's reaction?
answer
Floyd tells Al and Tom that there's work up in Santa Clara Valley picking prunes and working in the canneries there. Santa Clara Valley is 200 miles north, which Tom feels is too far away.
question
True or False: The contractor from Tulare County agrees to disclose wages and give out job contracts.
answer
False
question
What does the policeman charge Floyd Knowles with?
answer
The policeman says he saw Floyd at the scene of a robbery, at a used car lot.
question
What secret has Uncle John been keeping from the Joads?
answer
John reveals a five dollar bill and tells them he's been keeping it a secret from the family. He's saved it up, because he knew he would have to get really drunk at some point. He feels awful about hiding the money from the family, but he really needs a drink.
question
True or False: Uncle John uses the full five dollars for alcohol.
answer
False. He gives Pa his five-dollar bill and asks for two, so he will not spend it all in one night.
question
What is Rose of Sharon's response to Connie's departure? How does Ma deal with this?
answer
Rose of Sharon is extremely upset, in hysterics. Ma tells her to pull it together and work to take her mind off of things.
question
Why does Tom cry in Chapter 20?
answer
A group of men will not let him and his family into town because they are Okies.
question
Who is the Mayor of Hooverville?
answer
A simple man who the Joads first encounter when they reach their first camp. He responds to all questions nonsensically.
question
How does the hostility directed at the migrants affect them?
answer
It brings them together.
question
Why do California locals form armed groups?
answer
To terrorize the Okies and keep them in their place.
question
What do the owners of large farms do to the smaller farm owners?
answer
Drive them out of business
question
True or False: As the cost of labor falls, so do the prices of produce.
answer
False. The price of the fruit, vegetables, and cotton remains the same, but the cost of labor gets smaller and smaller. As a result, the landowners grow rich.
question
What new group of people competes with the migrant farmers for work?
answer
Small farm owners who have been driven out of business by large farm owners.
question
What "new method" do landowners invent to create even more profits?
answer
"A great owner bought a cannery. And when the peaches and the pears were ripe he cut the price of fruit below the price of raising it. And as cannery owner he paid himself a low price for the fruit and kept the price of canned goods up and took his profit."
question
Instead of spending their extra profits on higher wages, on what do landowners spend it?
answer
Money that could have gone to pay higher wages went to monitoring and controlling the migrant threat.
question
Landowners ignored the fact that hunger easily turns into _____.
answer
Anger
question
What is the name of the government camp the Joads move to?
answer
Weedpatch
question
At Weedpatch, who governs the migrants?
answer
The migrants govern themselves, thus avoiding the abuse of corrupt police officers.
question
Who does Tom first meet at Weedpatch?
answer
Timothy and Wilkie Wallace
question
Who is Mr. Thomas?
answer
The boss of the ranch that Timothy and Wilkie Wallace bring Tom to.
question
Why does Mr. Thomas say he cannot pay his workers more than 25 cents an hour?
answer
The Farmers' Association demands that he pay his laborers twenty-five cents an hour and no more. Even though he knows his men deserve a higher wage, Thomas claims that to pay more would "only cause unrest."
question
Why is the Farmers' Association uncomfortable with the existence of the government camp? What does the Association plan to do about the camp?
answer
The members believe the place to be riddled with communists, or "red agitators." In hopes of shutting the facilities down, the association is planning to send instigators into the camp on Saturday night to start a riot. The police will then have the right to enter the camp, arrest the labor organizers, and evict the migrants.
question
Who is Jim Rawley? Why is he important?
answer
The manager of Weedpatch. He makes Ma Joad feel human again by speaking to her as an equal.
question
According to Mrs. Sandry, what must Rose of Sharon avoid? Why?
answer
She must avoid the dancing and sinning that goes on in the camp: the babies of sinners, she warns, are born "dead and bloody."
question
Who introduces Ma Joad and Rose of Sharon to the rules of Weedpatch?
answer
The camp's Ladies Committee
question
Who hires Tom? To do what?
answer
Mr. Thomas, to lay pipe.
question
Who runs the Farmers Association?
answer
The Bank of the West
question
Why do Ruthie and Winfield think they have broken the toilet?
answer
They are not used to running water, which Weedpatch has. When Winfield flushes a toilet, the sound of rushing water convinces them they have broken it.
question
At Weedpatch, what was one woman's experience with the Salvation Army?
answer
She says they made them crawl for their food. They took their dignity.
question
At the end of the first day at Weedpatch, why are Ma and Pa Joad sad?
answer
Now that she feels settled, Ma cannot stop thinking about all the sad things that have happened on the trip. Pa is also depressed because he could not find work.
question
What are some of the methods the migrants have for finding escape from their misery and salvation?
answer
They they make music; tell folktales; go to movies; dance; buy alcohol; and go to preachers who give fire-and-brimstone sermons about evil and sin, haranguing the people until they grovel on the ground, and conduct mass baptisms.
question
At what camp event does the Farmers Association plan to instigate a riot?
answer
The camp dance
question
True or False: Rose of Sharon dances at the camp dance.
answer
False. She is afraid of Mrs. Sandry's warning.
question
How does Tom help stop the riot instigators?
answer
As the music begins, Tom and the other men quickly spot three dubious-looking men. They watch the men carefully. When one of the suspected troublemakers picks a fight by stepping in to dance with another man's date, the men apprehend the trio and evict them from the camp.
question
Why do the riot instigators agree to start the riot?
answer
They have been paid well by the Farmers Association.
question
Describe the story about the mountain people.
answer
A man tells a story about a group of mountain people who were hired as cheap labor by a rubber company in Akron. When the mountain people joined a union, the townspeople united to run them out of town. In response, five thousand mountain men marched through the center of town with their rifles, allegedly to shoot turkeys on the far side of the settlement. The march served as a powerful demonstration. The storyteller concludes that there has been no trouble between the townspeople and the workers since then.
question
What does Black Hat suggest at the Weedpatch dance?
answer
Black Hat suggests to the group that they form a union and that they start to arm themselves.
question
Who is Ezra Huston?
answer
The chairman of the camp committee who plans security measures for the camp dance.
question
What is the significance of the wine going bad in Chapter 25?
answer
Small farmers are unable to compete with large ones, so their crops wither and their debts rise. The vineyards' wine goes bad in the vats because of this; Steinbeck uses this as a symbol of the anger and resentment spreading throughout the land.
question
Why are small farmers unable to harvest their crops?
answer
The small farmer has benefited by the scientific advances in agriculture, but because he has to sell his produce to large canneries at a price competitive with the produce from large farms he cannot afford to harvest his crop.
question
Why do the Joads leave Weedpatch?
answer
After nearly a month in the government camp, the Joads find their supplies running low and work scarce. Ma Joad convinces the others that they must leave the camp the next day.
question
How much does the peach farm pay the Joads for picking peaches?
answer
They are paid only five cents a box. At the end of the day, even with everyone in the family working, they earn only one dollar.
question
What do the Joads find when they arrive at the peach farm?
answer
They find cars backed up on the roads leading to it, and angry mobs of people shouting from the roadside.
question
Why is Jim Casy in front of the peach farm?
answer
After getting released from prison, he works to organize the migrant farmers. He explains that the owner of the peach orchards cut wages to two-and-a-half cents a box, so the men went on strike.
question
Why have the Joads been hired to work on the peach farm?
answer
The owner has hired a new group of men in hopes of breaking the strike.
question
Describe the situation in which Tom kills a police officer.
answer
Two policemen approach Tom and Casy outside the peach farm, recognizing Casy as the workers' leader and referring to him as a communist. As Casy protests that the men are only helping to starve children, one of them crushes his skull with a pick handle. Tom flies into a rage and wields the pick handle on Casy's murderer, killing him before receiving a blow to his own head. He manages to run away and makes it back to his family.
question
Where do the Joads work after the peach farm?
answer
Picking cotton
question
Why does Tom go into hiding? Where does he hide?
answer
Tom hides in a culvert close to the plantation—his crushed nose and bruised face would bring suspicion upon him—and the family sneaks food to him.
question
Why does Ma Joad pierce Rose of Sharon's ears?
answer
Rose of Sharon says she thinks her baby is going to be deformed because she has not had enough milk. Ma comforts her by giving her a pair of gold earrings and piercing her ears with a needle.
question
What does Al promise the blonde girl he's been sleeping with?
answer
He tells her he is leaving, but that he will come back with a lot of money and take her to the movies.
question
Why is the man at the ranch store rude to Ma Joad?
answer
He is ashamed of his job and acts flippant as a way of coping with his shame.
question
Who pays for Ma Joad's sugar?
answer
The man working at the ranch store.
question
Why is it difficult for the Joads to pay for food while working on the peach farm?
answer
Their wages go towards store credit at the ranch store. The products there are expensive and low-quality.
question
How does Jim Casy learn about organizing while in jail?
answer
He says once all of them were given sour beans to eat and they all started yelling together and the guards brought them something better.
question
How does Winfield get sick at the peach farm?
answer
Winfield gets diarrhea after eating too many peaches and passes out in the field.
question
How are the wages for working in the cotton fields?
answer
Wages are decent, but workers without cotton-picking sacks are forced to buy them on credit. There are so many workers that some are unable to do enough work even to pay for their sacks.
question
Why do some cotton workers put stones in their sacks?
answer
Some of the owners are crooked and rig the scales used to weigh the cotton. To counter this practice, the migrants often load stones in their sacks.
question
With whom do the Joads share their boxcar when living at the cotton plantation?
answer
The Wainwrights
question
After starting work on the cotton farm, with what does Ma Joad treat Ruthie and Winfield?
answer
A box of Cracker Jack candy
question
How does Tom's secret about killing the police officer come out?
answer
When another girl, envious of Ruthie's Cracker Jack, picks a fight with her, Ruthie boasts angrily that her older brother has killed two men and is now in hiding.
question
When Ma Joad tells Tom he must leave to preserve his safety, what piece of wisdom does he share with her?
answer
He shares what he has learned from Jim Casy: that every man's soul is simply a small piece of a great soul.
question
Why does Tom decide to become a labor organizer?
answer
Since every man's soul is simply a small piece of a great soul, Tom says that he has decided to unify his soul with this great soul by working to organize the people, as Casy would have wanted.
question
What happens when the Joads and the Wainwrights go to the small farm to pick cotton?
answer
So many workers have amassed that the entire crop is picked before noon. Glumly, the family returns to the boxcar, and it begins to rain.
question
To whom is Al engaged?
answer
Agnes Wainwright
question
What does Rose of Sharon do during the engagement party?
answer
Rose of Sharon walks out of the boxcar during the party and crawls into a thicket and goes to sleep there.
question
How does the rain make things even more difficult for the migrants? How do they survive?
answer
No work can be done during the rain. Men are forced to buy and steal food.
question
During the rain, how do the women know that their men will not break?
answer
They see the men's fear turning to anger. The women know that their men will remain strong as long as they can maintain their rage.
question
Where does Rose of Sharon deliver her baby?
answer
In the boxcar
question
What happens to the dam that Pa, Al, Uncle John, and Mr. Wainwright build to protect the boxcar from being flooded?
answer
An uprooted tree cascades into the dam and destroys it.
question
What happens to Rose of Sharon's baby?
answer
The baby is stillborn. The family sends Uncle John to bury the child. He ventures into the storm, places the improvised coffin in the stream, and watches the current carry it away.
question
On what does Pa spend the last of the family's money?
answer
On food
question
On what day of the storm does Rose of Sharon deliver her baby?
answer
The 3rd day
question
During the storm, what do the Joads find in the barn?
answer
A starving man and a small boy
question
How does Rose of Sharon help the starving man?
answer
She breastfeeds him.
